Bracelet.



v H. L. JEFFERY & A. w. wAnswomH.

BRACELET.

APPUCATION FILED JAN- 30, 1914- 1 1 60,61 6. Patented Nov. 16, 1915.

W i tw/esse's: C ni/enzors @WM l M 9W B Attorw/ y coLummA rLANUURAPH co" WASHINGTON, D. c.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

HAnoLnL. JEFFERY A D RTH 'w'. wAnsWoETH, or ronT THOMAS, KENTUCKY, ASSIGNORS TO Tn wADs'WoR'rn wa'ron CASE COMPANY, a CORPORATION OF KENTUCKY.

BRACELET.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 16, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HAROLD L. JEFEERY and ARTHUR Vanswonrn, citizens of the United States, and residents of Fort Thomas, in the county of Campbell and State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bracelets, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to jewelry, and its object is to provide an attaching means between an encircling element, especially a bracelet, and some object to be retained by the element such as a watch, locket or useful or ornamental object of any kind, in such a manner that the object will be freely movable with relation to the element, thus allowing it to be applied to the wearer with facility and without liability of breakage of the parts under strains ordinarily imposed during the application of the article of jewelry, and preferably to have the object freely reversible on the element, either before or after its application to the wearer.

Our invention consists in the parts and in the details of construction and arrangement of parts as will hereinafter be more fully described and claimed.

In the drawing: Figure 1 is a front elevation of a watch-bracelet embodying our invention, with the face of the watch turned outward; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same; Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the watch-bracelet shown in Figs. 1 and 2, but with the back of the watch turned outward, exposing its ornament; Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a watch-bracelet comprising a strap connected to the watch according to our invention; Fig. 5 is a partial front elevation of the construction shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional view showing the construction of the invention as exemplified in Figs. 1 to 5, inclusive.

As shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 the watch case 1 has a socket 2 rigidly secured to each side, and each adjacent bracelet link 3 has a ball or head at connected to it, with the ball or head 4 held in the socket 2.

The bracelet shown, madeup of the links 3, is of the kind adapted to expand by virtue of resilient connections between the links which, not forming an essential part of our invention, need not be particularly described. As shown, however, these adjacent links 3 comprise side plates 5, and the head a is carried on a neck 6, which'in turn is carried on a hub 7 that is flanked by the plates 5 and has a pin 8 passing transversely through the plates and through the hub, so that the hub 7, neck 6 and head l, which are preferably integral, thus swivel in a single plane in these adjacent links 8.

The socket 2 is preferably substantially spherical esteriorly and interiorly, except for a segmental opening 9 through which the neck 6 projects, and which is of such extent and has its edges so shaped that considerable swinging of the neck 6 in every direction is allowed, with the ball or head having its bearing in the spherical interio of the socket 2.

V0 prefer to attach the socket 2 to the watch case 1 by sinking the edge of the case to form a depression 10, to which the spherical exterior of the socket 2 will conform, and then brazing or soldering the socket 2 in this depression 10 with the opening 9 of the socket presented outward radially of the watch case. This substantially spherical 'terior formation of the socket 2 and the corresponding depression in the ring of the case 1 is of especial advantage where the socket must be attached to a very thin watch case ring, and where the socket would lc considerably wider than the thickness of the ring. The substantially spherical formation of the socket and depression will afford sm'licient area of juncture, even with the thinnest watch case ring.

The socket 2 is at first not completely spherically formed, so that its opening 9 is 1 r c enough to admit the ball head 4- after which the adjacent parts of the socket are closed down around the ball or head 4-, either by spinning or by the use of a suitable die, whereupon the head 41 is permanently retained in the socket. done after the socket it attached to the watch case.

lVhere a strap 11 is used, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, theadjaeent link3 of the bracelet is replaced by a broad short link 12,having short plates 13 flanking the hub 7 and connected thereto by a pin 8 in the same manner as described in connection with the resilientlink bracelet. The broad short link 12 has the strap portions passed through it and sewed, and the strap portions, not being elastic, are connected by means of a buckle 14, or any other suitable fastening means may be used in connection with the device.

By means of our invention we preferably secure movement of the bracelet part with This is preferably respect to the watch case or other object to be carried by the bracelet. This universal movement is especially desirable where the bracelet must be slipped over the hand as allowed by the expansion of the bracelet by virtue of its resiliency, whether constructed as indicated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 or otherwise. This universal swinging of the parts, especially together with the swiveling movement where they pivot on the pin 8, allows the parts to yield readily to all twisting pressure incident to the passage of the bracelet over the hand, so that there is very little tendency to disrupt the parts during the application of the bracelet. Furthermore, it is possible to reverse the watch or other object, as from the position shown in Fig. 1 to that shown in Fig. 3. Thus, with a watch, its face may be turned next to the arm and the crystal thus protected, while the back of the watch may have any desirable ornament as indicated, so that a pleasing ornamental effect may, if desired, be obtained at all times except when the watch is to be consulted, upon which it may be very readily turned with its face outward. Also, with the use of a blind link or locket, the object may be ornamented on both sides and reversed as desired, securing a variety of ornamentation which is not possible with a bracelet having the blind link or locket confined to a single position with relation to the bracelet and arm, with one side always concealed.

Another very important advantage is the facility with which these bracelets may be packed. Where the watch or other object carried by the bracelet is confined to a sin gle position at right angles to the plane of the bracelet, z. 6., the position in which it is worn on the arm and in which it is shown in the drawing, considerable space is wasted in the container in which it is packed, because the container must be high enough to accommodate the height of the watch, locket or other object, and wide and long enough to receive the bracelet. Vt here the watch or other object may be turned one-fourth of the way around, bringing it practically entirely in the same plane as that of the bracelet, the package may be flat, with very little waste of space in the inclosure. Not only is'less spaced wasted, but the article maybe more securely packed in this way without the necessity of making the container so heavy and strong as is required in the packing of the ordinary watch-bracelet or similar bracelet.

Having fully described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an article of the character described,

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner-of Patents,

an encircling element with separated ends, an object to be retained between the ends of the element, and connectionsbetween said ends and the object, each comprising a socket with a substantially spherical exterior, said object having a depression conforming to the exterior of the socket and said socket having part of its exterior rigidly secured in said depression, and means comprising a head movably held in the in terior of the socket and a neck on the head extencing out .of the socket and connected to the respective end of the encircling element.

2. In an article of the character described, an encircling element with separated ends, an object to be retained between the ends of the element, and connections between said ends and the object, each comprising a socket with substantially spherical interior and exterior but with a segmental opening, said object having a spherically conforming depression, and said socket having part of its substantially spherical exterior rigidly secured in said depression with the opening presented outward from the object, and means comprising a substantially spherical head movably' held in the substantially spherical interior of the socket, a neck on the head extending through the opening in the socket, a hub on the outer end of the neck, and pivotal connection between the hub and the respective end of the encircling element, the opening in the socket being of such size with respect to the neck that said hub, neck and head may swing universally in the socket.

3. Inan article of the character described, an encircling element with separated ends, an object to be retained between the ends of the element, and connections between said ends and the object, each comprising a socket with substantially spherical interior and exterior and with a segmental opening at one side, said object having a spherically conforming depression, and said socket having part of its substantially spherical exterior rigidly secured in said depression with its opening presented outwardly from the object, and means comprising a substan tially spherical head movably held in the substantially spherical interior of the socket, and a neck on thehead extending out through the opening in the socket and connected to the respective end of the encircling element.

HAROLD L. Jnrrnnr ARTHUR w. wnnswonrn.

Witnesses:

. CLARENCE Pnnonw, CATHERINE Donnn.

Washington, D. C. 

